We are on our way to Ghana


 One of the unexpected difficulties of our humanitarian mission has been the amount of paperwork and procedures involved. A great deal of effort now goes into making sure we have proper contracts so that there are no unexpected lawsuits or misunderstandings. We first fill out a contract template giving the basic information of the humanitarian project. The attorneys in Ghana then process that into individual contracts. We then have to give input into those individual contracts. At last a final contract is produced. It takes about 30 days minimum. Then the contracts have to have signatures and witnesses.

We finally received a contract for one of our middle size projects. To our Delight the entire company who we are dealing with was at our apartment complexes pool in view of our apartment. After we called and asked them if we could come over.  We went down and presented the contract to them. They were so excited. Some of these companies don't have much to do right now and so a contract means continued employment. It was a going away party for the company president who has become a good friend of ours. They had us stay and join in. This was one of the times where the legal proceedings were actually easier than we had anticipated.

We do our laundry on Saturday morning. The apartment complex has a laundromat that is free of charge to use. They have combination washer and dryers. The drying part doesn't work very well so we have to hang out the clothes. We have to hang them inside because outside they never get dry outside.

Our apartment complex is surrounded by a 10-ft tall wall with steel spikes on the top. The only way in or out is through this gate. It is manned 24 Hours by 2 security personnel. We feel safe here. By far the biggest area of crime is petty theft. People are so poor so it is very tempting. Other more serious crimes rarely involve westerners.


Life was not so hard today. After our hour and a half ride to church and then 2 hours in the non-air condition hot Dolo branch we checked into the nearby Farmington hotel. It is the Premier hotel in the nation. After check-in we walked around the grounds. This is one of the three pools. In the background is the Farmington River.

There was a buffet going on in the pool area but we didn't purchase a ticket because we weren't overly hungry and it cost $35 a person. As we were starting to exit the ground we were met by Lebanese man who is one of the owners of the largest grocery store chain in the nation. He asked us if we wanted lunch. We said we chose not to because it was a little expensive. He said that he comes here every week and that we could just go into the buffet line and get a meal for free. All of the attendants knew who he was and gladly accepted us in. We had a wonderful meal. Better than a cruise ship with multiple meats, hot dishes and desserts. As we were leaving after the meal we asked the buffet attendandents  who the man was and and how he was able to get us into the buffet line. They said he was only a regular guest and that he paid full price for each of us. There were four of us. I don't know why he did it other than we had our missionary badges on.
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This is Elder and Sister McGlochlin who joined us in the buffet. All four of us are going to Accra Ghana tomorrow and have to be at the airport at 4:30 a.m. that is why we are staying at the hotel across the street from the airport. If we did not stay at the hotel we had an hour and a half ride from our apartment in the morning.

The church has a program where they assist members to go to the temple for the first time when they live in circumstances where the temple is distant and their personal finances are so modest that they cannot afford the trip on their own. There is a group going from Liberia and we have been asked to be there escorts. The church is paying for their lodging, transportation and meals for their 4-day stay in Ghana. Other than having to be at the airport at 4:30 we are looking forward to it. It will be an adventure. A new African country and a new Temple for us to attend.

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